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Thursday, September 3, 2015

Big Brother Season 17, Episode 32 Episode Recap

Here we go with the final big blast of the season before the September 23 finale. Not that there won't be tense moments over the course of the next three weeks, but that early September double eviction marks the last truly unpredictable moment of the season. After tonight, the remaining players tend to know their place in the house. They (finally) know their allies and enemies, and the day to day activities begin to grind to a halt.

How enjoyable those last weeks are will depend on the course of tonight's events. I've been preaching this for weeks, but it's oh so important that Austin or one of the twins is evicted tonight. If not, then somebody from the "other side" needs to win the HOH competition that will take place later tonight. If this doesn't happen, they have the numbers the rest of the season. They'll coast to the final three with at least two of them making to that point.

In other words, the biggest nightmare would be for them all to survive the second eviction AND then winning that second HOH. There has to be some sort of turn of events or what has been a fascinating season is going to turn into one long dry hump.

We left off last night with James taking himself off the block, replaced (as arranged) by Julia. Tonight begins with the predictable reactions to the move. Meg makes a joke at how there are tons of threats in the house she could have put up instead of worthless Julia. "Thanks for nothing." John jokes that "Vanessa really wants me here", and reminds us that it was just last week he was evicted. Vanessa congratulates James, who points out that having Julia on the block is a great opportunity to break up the Austwins. Julia babbles nonsense, as usual. Vanessa explains that putting up Julia ensures that Meg goes home.

Back in the have-not room, Meg is "livid". James tells her not to give up hope. "You don't know what Steve and JohnnyMac are thinking." At the same time, John is upstairs with Vanessa saying that he has to piss off the jury. Vanessa, though, knows that the "whole jury hates me". She also explains taht putting up Julia proves to him they're working together. "I'm final two with you", says John. Even Steve doesn't believe they get along, which Vanessa says is a good thing.

Moving back to the have-not room, James tells John that they need to "get a team together" to get rid of Julia. He points out that "they" control all the votes right now, and Meg leaving will ultimately screw them all. (He's right, by the way.) John claims to actually be thinking this is a great opportunity. "This could sink my game, so what should I do?"

Steve then grabs John to talk. They discuss whether to flip the vote. Steve says in the diary room that it "seems obvious". The twins interrupt their talk by doing yoga in the living room, so Steve heads upstairs to talk to Vanessa. He tells her that he trusts her 100%, but points out that Austin would never make a move against the twins. Vanessa is having none of it, though. Steve believes that if Meg survives, they'll target the remaining Austwins. "You've lost your mind", replies Vanessa.

Steve is now in the bedroom contemplating what he should do. "This is a huge game-changing decision, and I realize I'm over my head." He heads into the bathroom and pukes.

And with that, the house footage is over. Julie addresses the house, and announces that it's a double eviction tonight. This time, the house is actually sort of surprised. We jump right to the final statements, and Meg wishes her father a happy birthday. She babbles about losing friends, and playing as an independant (what?). Julia sends love to her family, and talks about how tough it was to pretend she was Liz at the beginning of the game. "I have so much more fight in me, and I have to prove Zingbot wrong." Ugh.

Voting then begins with Liz, who obviously votes to evict Meg. James then votes to evict Julia. Steve is up next, and he has decided to evict Meg. There goes the flip! John also votes to evict Meg, as does Austin. Meg has been evicted by a vote of 4-1.

Everybody gets their hugs, and Meg walks out to huge applause. Chen asks who she feels played by, and she says that it was Vanessa. Sort of. Julie asks if she regrets saving Vanessa weeks ago, and she doesn't. "James and I would have been in the same position." Meg also says that Vanessa "scares me a lot", and complains how "she always listens to everything everybody says". James is then brought up, and Meg says they're best friends. "I don't think there's any fireworks there." Goodbye Grandma.

Now it's time for the HOH competition, and it's a question-oriented comp called "BB Roadtrip". The questions are all about the first six evictees. Pairs of photos are shown "travelling the country", and then true/false questions are asked about the pics.

After the first two pics are shown, Chen asks about the eagles in the rock climbing photo. Everybody is correct. The Mount Rushmore photo is asked for the next one, and Steve and James are now out. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.

Two more photos are then shown. Question three is about the Mardi Gras pic, and John and Austin are now out. It's between the twins. And now I'm pissed. They both get the next question correct, and more photos are put on the screen. They again are both correct over and over before finally Liz wins HOH. Gross.

After commercials, Liz is shown talking to Steve and then John. She's called to the living room to announce her nominations. She babbles a bit before putting up James and John. Then we go to more commercials.

We return to the POV competition. Everybody but Vanessa is in this competition, and it's a ball rolling setup. The platform is boomerang-shaped, with holes on the other end. The highest score from two separate shots wins the POV.

Steve is first, and his first ball goes off the platform...as does his second one. Great job.

John is up next, and both of his balls also go off the platform. Austin then gets a six with his first ball, followed by a 9. He's now in the lead with 15.

Liz throws her first ball, and gets a 15. He next ball rolls back to the beginning for a zero.

Julia then throws a 13, followed by a 4. She's now in the lead with 17.

It's now up to James. His first roll goes off the board...as does his second. Julia is the POV winner. What a horrific competition.

After sitting through even more commercials, we get pleas from James and John before we hear if Julia will use the POV. James says he "appreciates your friendships", and says they're all his friends. John says it would "be really awesome if you use the veto on me. Use it." Needless to say, she doesn't use it because she "doesn't want to get any more blood on my hands". And we go to even more commercials.

Now we get to hear the same speeches all over again, as it's final plea time. James just says "keep me", and that he "holds no personal grudges". He's there for his daughter. John says he "doesn't have anything funny, but it would be really cool to stay."

Voting then begins with Austin, who votes to evict James, as does Julia, Vanessa, and Steve. It's unanimous. James is heading to jury with Meg.

Julie reveals the results, and James is out the door. Vanessa is heard making it all about herself, crying that she feels "so all alone". Ugh, knock it off. Julie asks why James didn't campaign, and he says that he "knew he was a huge threat in this game" that was going to be the next one out. He knows that he needed to break up Austin and the twins. He's asked about his "big, bold moves", but didn't really do much when he wasn't HOH? Why didn't he play more aggressively? He says that the bigger players tended to be the ones going out the door. He's then asked about Meg, and he says he's been "trying with Meg for 75 days, and if I haven't got this far yet, I might as well throw in the towel."

With that, the show is over. What did you think? Are you disappointed that half the house are now the Austwins? Who do you want to see be the next HOH? Let us know your thoughts!

4 comments:

BB needs to pick better cast members, for sure! My personal opinion is that this is the worst and most boring season of BB yet. A house full of doormats. The biggest game move was when James put Shelley and Clay on the block. That was the most interesting episode by far. Tonight there was a chance to make a big game move by splitting up Austwins, obviously James' idea since he's the only one with balls in that house. But the doormat sissy's, Steve and Johnny Mac, were too cowardly to make a big move. So they shall continue to float their way forward.

What really makes BB interesting are those huge game moves and house flipping. Before this season I didn't miss a beat. This season I find myself easily distracted and having to rewind a lot because there's nothing to keep my interest. It's very very disappointing. I doubt I'll be able to finish watching the rest of the season, honestly, because every single person that's left is either a coward/floater/doormat. They're either totally uninteresting, they lack game play, they're too dumb to tolerate, or their showmance is just too hard to watch. Yuck! (It's worse than McCranda!)

Personally, I don't understand why they have to recruit people. It seems like there should be enough people applying. Also, I cannot wait to see who Steve nominates. The twins were so stupid bc they thought that no one of their alliance would go up with JohnnyMac, but someone has to sit beside him. It'll be great to see what happens when Austwins gets split up.

Here's how it will continue to go. Vanessa will tell the house guests what not to do because it isn't good for HER game. Then the house guests won't do that because, well....it's Vanessa, and for some mysterious reason, Vanessa gets what Vanessa wants. In this case it's half a million bucks.